City named finalist in Smart City Challenge
Austin | Mayor Steve Adler and six other U.S. mayors are vying for a $50 million grant in a challenge that aims to find creative solutions to traffic congestion.
Seventy-eight midsized cities applied for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Smart City Challenge. USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx said the department issued the challenge because population growth and increased demand on freeways and freight rail led to more congestion.
On March 12 during a South by Southwest Conferences & Festivals event, USDOT announced the seven finalists in the Smart City Challenge: Austin; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburgh; Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco.
Each finalist receives a $100,000 grant to spend the next few months further developing a proposal on using innovation and technology to solve traffic. The winner will be announced in June and will receive $40 million from USDOT and $10 million from Vulcan Inc.
Adler said mobility is the top issue the city faces.
“We cannot pave our way out of the problems we have,” he said.
City Council retools committee processes
Austin | The new City Council committees created last year were designed to encourage more civic engagement, and on March 3 council passed new legislation that will define the role and processes for these committees.
The changes were proposed by District 4 Council Member Gregorio Casar, who said the new rules will allow committees to operate more effectively and also reduce the workload burden on city staff.
Major approved changes to council committees include changing committee member terms from one- to two-year terms, requiring approval by two committee members to place an item on a committee agenda and requiring three members to move an item from committee to a City Council agenda.
TravCo appoints courthouse committee
Travis county | The Commissioners Court voted at its Feb. 23 meeting to appoint members to a citizens advisory committee that will look at providing more capacity for civil and family courts.
Earlier in February the court decided to create an advisory committee to continue work on addressing the need for additional capacity for courts following voters’ rejection of bond funds for a proposed new civil and family courts complex, or CFCC, in November.
On Feb. 16 the court also approved a site evaluation matrix, which county staffers and consultants will use when examining potential courthouse sites. Staff is currently considering properties that the county already owns using that matrix, Judge Sarah Eckhardt said.
March 1 primary election winners
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
• U.S. representative, District 10: Tawana W. Cadien
• State representative, District 49: Gina Hinojosa
Travis County
• Judge, 345th District Court: Jan Soifer
• Judge, 427th District Court: Tamara Needles
• Judge, 450th District Court: Brad Urrutia
• District attorney: Margaret Moore
• Sheriff: Sally Hernandez
Williamson County
• Commissioner, Precinct 1: Terry Cook
REPUBLICAN PARTY
• U.S. representative, District 17: Bill Flores*
• U.S. representative, District 31: John Carter*
• State representative, District 47: Paul Workman*
Travis County
• Commissioner, Precinct 3: Gerald Daugherty*
• Party chairman: Robert Morrow
Williamson County
• Judge, 395th District Court: Terence Davis
• District attorney: Shawn Dick
• Sheriff: Robert Chody
• Constable, Precinct 1: Vinnie Cherrone
• Constable, Precinct 2: Richard Coffman*
RUNOFF ELECTIONS
When one candidate does not receive 50 percent of the vote, the two candidates with the most votes go to a runoff election. The runoff election is May 24.
• Travis County commissioner, Precinct 1: Jeff Travillion (41.64%) and Arthur Sampson (18.53%)—Democratic primary
• Williamson County Court at Law judge No. 2: Laura Barker (32.69%) and Warren Oliver Waterman (25.91%)—Republican primary
• Williamson County commissioner, Precinct 1: Donna Parker (36.45%) and Landy Warren (36.14%)—Republican primary
*Incumbent
